An Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) system is designed to prevent unauthorized removal of an item from a controlled area. A typical EAS system may comprise a monitoring system and one or more security tags. The monitoring system may create an interrogation zone at an access point for the controlled area. A security tag may be fastened to an item, such as an article of clothing. If the tagged item enters the interrogation zone, an alarm may be triggered indicating unauthorized removal of the tagged item from the controlled area.
When a customer presents an article for payment at a checkout counter, a checkout clerk either removes the security tag from the article, or deactivates the security tag using a deactivation device. In the latter case, improvements in the deactivation device may facilitate the deactivation operation, thereby increasing convenience to both the customer and clerk. Consequently, there may be need for improvements in deactivating techniques in an EAS system.